Suspects charged in stabbing at Melbourne restaurant named

Police arrested three men in connection with a stabbing that prompted a retaliatory shooting at Lizzy's restaurant in Melbourne this week. Video by Tyler Vazquez, FLORIDA TODAY Posted Feb. 16, 2018
Wochit

The three men who police said were involved in a stabbing outside Lizzy's restaurant in Melbourne Feb. 12 have been identified.

Kinte Brooks II, 19, and Tyriq Coger, 18, both of Melbourne, along with a 17-year-old boy were taken into custody on attempted murder charges Friday after police said they were involved in a stabbing that occurred in the parking lot of the restaurant in the 1300 block of University Boulevard.

The three suspects were apprehended during a traffic stop in the parking lot of Keiser University at 900 S. Babcock Street after a warrant was issued for their arrests. The Melbourne Police Department was aided by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office and the GameOver Task Force in their investigation.

In a surveillance video from the incident provided by the owner of Lizzy's, a man is seen talking with the restaurant owner and the owner's daughter in front of her vehicle, which was parked in the west parking lot of the restaurant, according to police. Another man, who police said is the woman's husband, then enters, and can be seen placing his belongings on the passenger's seat in the car.

A verbal altercation then ensues between the husband and another man, at which point Brooks, Coger and the teen can be seen approaching. The four men surround the husband as he stands with his back toward the vehicle, according to police.

Police said the video shows the husband walking away from the group and stopping along the west entrance of the restaurant. After a physical fight ensues, the man attempts to flee, but is stopped by Brooks, Coger and the teen, police report.

The suspects are then seen holding the man down against the hood of the vehicle.

"Coger can be observed making an overt action towards [the man]," police report. Witnesses told police Coger had a knife in his hand.

After witnesses helped pull the suspects off the man, the man's wife drove him to a local hospital where he was reported in critical but stable condition from a stab wound to the chest, according to police.

Brooks, Coger and the teen are shown in the video leaving the scene in one vehicle while the fourth man involved drives away in another, police report. He has not been located by police.

Brooks, Coger and the teen were taken into custody about 3 p.m. Feb. 16 on charges of attempted murder. Coger also was slapped with a carrying concealed weapon charge and is being held at the Brevard County Jail on a $260,000 bail. Brooks is being held on $150,000 bail.

Police said a shooting that occurred the day after the stabbing at the same location was retaliatory. In that incident, several men in a light-colored vehicle pulled up to the restaurant and fired rounds at a crowd standing outside about 6:30 p.m., police report.

No one was hit by gunfire, according to police. The individuals involved in that incident have not been identified.